• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.13-22
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• 2020

As the supply of photovoltaic (PV) increases worldwide, the cumulative installations in 2018 were 7.9 and 560 GW in Korea and the world, respectively. Typically, when the ground on commercial PV modules is installed, the area is limited; hence, new designs of PV modules are required to install additional PVs. Among the new design of PV modules, lightweight PV modules can be utilized in PV systems, such as buildings, farmlands, and floating PV. Concerning the investigation of lightweight PV modules, several studies on materials for replacing low-iron tempered glass, which comprises approximately 65% of the PV module weight, have been conducted. However, materials that are used as substitutes for glass should possess similar lightweight properties and reliability as glass. In this study, experimental tests were performed to evaluate the applicability of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) film with excellent resistance to water and aging as a front material of PV modules. The transmittance and ultraviolet properties of the ETFE film were determined and compared with those of glass. A 1-cell module and laboratory-scale 24-cell module were manufactured using the ETFE film and glass, and the electrical output was measured and analyzed. Furthermore, damp heat and thermal cycle tests were conducted to evaluate the reliability of the ETFE film module. Based on the experimental results, the electrical output and reliability of the ETFE film module were similar to those of the glass module, and the ETFE film could be used as the front material of PV modules.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.30-34
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• 2017

The building integrated photovoltaic system (BIPV) attracts attention with regard to the future of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. It is because one of the promising national and civilian projects in the country. Since land area is limited, there is considerable interest in BIPV systems with a variety of angles and shapes of PV panels. It is therefore expected to be one of the major fields for the PV industry in the future. Since the irradiation is different from each installation angle, the output can be predicted by the angles. This is critical for a PV system to be operated at maximum power and use an efficient design. The development characteristics of tilted angles based on data results obtained via long-term monitoring need to be analyzed. The ratio of the theoretically available and actual outputs is compared with the installation angles of each PV module to provide a suitable PV system for the user.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.179-187
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• 2011

This paper proposes a MATLAB Simulink simulator for photovoltaic (PV) systems. The main contribution of this work is the utilization of a two-diode model to represent a PV cell. This model is known to have better accuracy at low irradiance levels which allows for a more accurate prediction of PV system performance. To reduce computational time, the input parameters are reduced to four and the values of $R_p$ and $R_s$ are estimated by an efficient iteration method. Furthermore, all of the inputs to the simulator are information available on a standard PV module datasheet. The simulator supports large array simulations that can be interfaced with MPPT algorithms and power electronic converters. The accuracy of the simulator is verified by applying the model to five PV modules of different types (multi-crystalline, mono-crystalline, and thin-film) from various manufacturers. It is envisaged that the proposed work can be very useful for PV professionals who require a simple, fast and accurate PV simulator to design their systems.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.390-393
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• 1997

${\kappa}-Carrageenan-based$ film prepared by mixing 2% ${\kappa}-carrageenan$, 0.1% KCl, 0.75% polyethylene glycol, and 0.75% glycerol was examined to be used as a potential packaging material for mackerel mince for preventing moisture loss and lipid oxidation. Mackerel mince patties were vacuum-packaged with the film and stored at $20^{\circ}C,\;10^{\circ}C,\;0^{\circ}C,\;and\;-15^{\circ}C$; nonpackaged patties were also stored at $0^{\circ}C$. Weight reduction, peroxide value (PV), and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value were measured during storage. The packaged or nonpackaged samples stored at $20^{\circ}C,\;10^{\circ}C,\;and\;0^{\circ}C$ showed a 60% weight reduction between 2 and 15 days of storage, while the weight reduction of the samples stored at $-15^{\circ}C$ was about 3% after 25 days. The nonpackaged samples stored at $0^{\circ}C$ showed a steady increase in lipid oxidation with the PV reaching 23 mequivalent peroxide (PO)/㎏ on day 20 and with the TBA value at 0.4 mole malonaldehyde (MA)/g on day 5. The PV and TBA values of the samples vacuum-packaged with the carrageenan-based film were below 2 mequivalent PO/㎏ and below 0.1 mole MA/g, respectively, regardless of storage temperature throughout the storage of 28 days.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.997-1006
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• 2018

This paper proposes a transformerless photovoltaic (PV) power converter system based on the DC/AC boost inverter, which can solve the leakage current and second-order ripple power issues in single-phase grid-connected PV inverters. In the proposed topology, the leakage current can be decreased remarkably since most of the common-mode currents flow through the output capacitor, by-passing parasitic capacitors, and grounding resistors. In addition, the inherent ripple power component in the single-phase grid inverter can be suppressed without adding any extra components. Therefore, bulky electrolytic capacitors can be replaced by small film capacitors. The effectiveness of the proposed topology has been verified by simulation and experimental results for a 1-kW PV PCS.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.1061_1061
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• 2009

Running low of fossil fuel energy forces the industry to find a new way to overcome this energy crisis. One of the solutions is using the unlimited and everlasting energy sources like wind, sun, water, and so on. Especially, sun energy becomes the hottest issue in recent years because of its merit in installation, operation and abundant material source of silicon. In 2008, about 5.5GW photovoltaic (PV) system has been installed all around world. Many professional renewable energy organizations expect that the total PV system installation will be 30GW. To sustain the long-term stability of the PV system, several institutes perform the test based on IEC standards like IEC 61215 for silicon crystalline PV module and IEC 61646 for thin film PV module. Also in South Korea, Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) performs the certificate test according to IEC 61215 standards. In this paper, we want to summarize and inform the 3 years‘ test results of domestic and foreign PV modules. The specific and technical explanation will be shown in the following paper in detail.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2013

This study designs and tests a photovoltaic system with distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) methodology using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) controller. Each solar panel in the distributed PV system is equipped with a newly designed DC/DC converter and the panel's voltage output is regulated by a FPGA controller using PI control. Power from each solar panel on the system is optimized by another controller where the quadratic maximization MPPT algorithm is used to ensure the panel's output power is always maximized. Experiments are carried out at atmospheric insolation with partial shading conditions using 4 amorphous silicon thin film solar panels of 2 different grades fabricated by Chi-Mei Energy. It is found that distributed MPPT requires only 100ms to find the maximum power point of the system. Compared with the traditional centralized PV (CPV) system, the distributed PV (DPV) system harvests more than 4% of solar energy in atmospheric weather condition, and 22% in average under 19% partial shading of one solar panel in the system. Test results for a 1.84 kW rated system composed by 8 poly-Si PV panels using another DC/DC converter design also confirm that the proposed system can be easily implemented into a larger PV power system. Additionally, the use of NI sbRIO-9642 FPGA-based controller is capable of controlling over 16 sets of PV modules, and a number of controllers can cooperate via the network if needed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.141-141
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• 2010

The effect of thermal anneal on the characteristics of structural properties and the enhancement of luminescence and photovoltaic (PV) characteristics of silicon-rich silicon-nitride films were investigated. By using an ultra high vacuum ion beam sputtering deposition, B-doped silicon-rich silicon-nitride (SRSN) thin films, with excess silicon content of 15 at. %, on P-doped (n-type) Si substrate was fabricated, sputtering a highly B doped Si wafer with a BN chip by N plasma. In order to examine the influence of thermal anneal, films were then annealed at different temperature up to $1100^{\circ}C$ under $N_2$ environment. Raman, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy did not show any reliable evidence of amorphous or crystalline Si clusters allowing us concluding that nearly no Si nano-cluster could be formed through the precipitation of excess Si from SRSN matrix during thermal anneal. Instead, results of Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy clearly indicated that defective, amorphous Si-N matrix of films was changed to be well-ordered thanks to high temperature anneal. The measurement of spectral ellipsometry in UV-visible range was carried out and we found that the optical absorption edge of film was shifted to higher energy as the anneal temperature increased as the results of thermal anneal induced formation of $Si_3N_4$-like matrix. These are consistent with the observation that higher visible photoluminescence, which is likely due to the presence of Si-N bonds, from anneals at higher temperature. Based on these films, PV cells were fabricated by the formation of front/back metal electrodes. For all cells, typical I-V characteristic of p-n diode junction was observed. We also tried to measure PV properties using a solar-simulator and confirmed successful operation of PV devices. Carrier transport mechanism depending on anneal temperature and the implication of PV cells based on SRSN films were also discussed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.55-60
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• 2020

The PERC photovoltaic (PV) modules installed in PV power plant are still reports potential-induced degradation (PID) degradation due to high voltage potential differences. This is because Na+ ions in the cover glass of PV modules go through the encapsulant (EVA) and transferred to the surface of solar cells. As positive charges are accumulated at the ARC (SiOx/SiNx) interface where many defects are distributed, shunt-resistance (Rsh) is reduced. As a result, the leakage current is increased, and decrease in solar cell's power output. In this study, to prevent of this phenomenon, a Moth-eye nanostructure was deposited on the rear surface of an optical film using Nano-Imprint Lithography method, and a solar mini-module was constructed by inserting it between the cover glass and the EVA. To analyze the PID phenomenon, a cell-level PID acceleration test based on IEC 62804-1 standard was conducted. Also analyzed power output (Pmax), efficiency, and shunt resistance through Light I-V and Dark I-V. As a result, conventional solar cells were decreased by 6.3% from the initial efficiency of 19.76%, but the improved solar cells with the Moth-eye nanostructured optical film only decreased 0.6%, thereby preventing the PID phenomenon. As of Moth-eye nanostructured optical film, the transmittance was improved by 4%, and the solar module output was improved by 2.5%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.287-294
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• 2015

Photovoltaic (PV) modules are environmentally friendly energy-conversion devices to generate electricity via the photovoltaic effect of semiconductors on solar energy. One of key elements in PV modules is "Backsheet," a multi-layered film to protect the devices from a variety of chemicals including water vapor. A representative Backsheet is composed of polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). PVF is relatively expensive, while showing excellent resistance to chemical attacks. Thus, it is necessary to develop alternatives which can lower its high production cost and guarantee lifetime applicable to practical PV modules at the same time. In this study, PET films with certain levels of crystallinity were utilized instead of PVF. Since it is well known that PET is suffering from trans-esterification and hydrolysis under a wide pH range, it is needed to understand decomposition behavior of the PET films under PV operation conditions. To evaluate their chemical decomposition behavior within a short period of times, accelerated decomposition test protocol is developed. Moreover, electrochemical long-term performances of the PV module employing the PET-based Backsheet are investigated to prove the efficacy of the proposed concept.